I don't have any experience in painting any pieces...how would I go about painting the engine cover? Painting around the letters seems hard unless I can't think of the proper technique?

 

To mask off the emblems it's bent to get painters tape and use a xacto knife to cut them out. As far as paint, be sure to scuff up the plastic using sand paper.

 

Tape of the letters and Toyota symbol. I usually clean the surface even before sanding, Simple Green works great. Dry the surface with a lint free cotton towel. Sand the surface with a fine grit sand paper, you don't want to sand grooves into the piece. Clean it again with Simple Green and dry. Take paint of choice, I'll probably end up using red wrinkle finish when I do mine. I like the look of it :-) Spray a nice thin even base coat. Don't goto town or else you'll end up with runs. Let that dry. Apply even thin coats until the desired thickness and color is reached. Let the piece cure over night then remove the tape over the letters. Reinstall.

Good luck.

 

nice, thanks...even I understsand what to do now

Any specific kind of paint needed, like a high temp paint? And it sounds like I want paint in the form of a spray? Also I will need to use a primer correct?

 

Or just paint the whole thing then buy some overlays....

http://randode.com/store/product39.html

 

^ hmm nice, i think i'll do that.

do i need spray can and clear coat?? I want it to come out as smooth and shiny as possible

 

just went to the store today to price stuff.. as soon as someone lets me know if PRIMER, clear coat and a spray type can is needed, imma get the supplies

 

Good luck man..

I attempted this the night before a show..____ed up bad.

I put no clear coat over the paint..w/ only one coat of paint.

That issh is chipping paint like it is going out of style.

 

hmm that was actually one thing I wasnt gonna do is the sanding...

 

you dont need to...i did not.

 

well what i did was mask the emblems sanded it down till it was smooth, then i put primer which was more like adhesive for plastic so it would stick more then painted it made sure there was no runs then clear coated it. . then got the touch up pen for my car and did the emblems with that, You just gotta find good paint and clear coat and one you do that the painting and everything it's a breeze the only thing that takes long is the drying of course lol anyways here's a pic of mine,

Good Luck!

 

I did mine in about 10 mins. I just cleaned it with degreaser, used the made for plastics red paint from krylon or duplicolor...I forget, then used a paint marker to paint over the lettering. Very easy and no sanding. If you try to go for the ultra-smooth appearance, it will take you much much more time and be a big hassle to keep it from cracking etc. I've run it like this about 10k miles and still no signs of chipping or flaking. Even with the turbo setup.

 

Just finished painting mine. Will post a pic tomorrow when it dries. Also, I like the look of the above lettering (black instead of the silver), so i decided to try the paint marker. Problem is, I can't find one! Doesn't seem like that odd of a thing to find, bu the hardware stores didn't carry it. Any suggestions?

 

Try wal-mart or an arts and crafts store.

 

Wow like the red and black looks real sweet with the turbo setup

 

try a thin brush, and brushing the letters. I should have done that to ine instead of masking the letters cause it was a pain.

 

I've ditched the plastic cover all together now and painted the valve cover itself. I got the coil pack cover off a member here on SL that makes them for 22 bucks shipped. Valve cover is painted with a lightly sanded down wrinkle finish and red sprayed over top to get a happy medium between Honda motor wrinkle red and gloss red. The coil pack cover is sprayed with silver wheel paint if I remember right. It's aluminum too and doesn't get that hot. Been fine for weeks now.

 

yeah that's why I didn't want to mess with the masking. I started and it seemed like a pain so I stopped that. I'll check out walmart for the paint pen, if not, I'll try the thin brush. Although I think the paint pen would be real easy. That overlay looks real nice too by the way.

 

Got a pic of the work finally.